DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. However, I sure wish that Paramount would create a new Star Trek series of good quality that would keep the idea alive so that we Fan Fiction writers don't have to do all the work. :)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are several sex scenes in this story. On top of that, sex is talked about. However, this story is not just sex (talk). It simply turned out to be a good base to build on other stuff. Note that this story deals with a relationship that has a more dominant and a more submissive partner. However, this is not Dom/sub by any stretch. This is merely two people that fit well together where BOTH people have an equal say in their relationship, just that they prefer to fulfill different roles in said relationship. Also, note, the Delaney sisters are in this story and they are close. Very close. So close that some people might have a problem with it, but rest assured it's not so close as some Voyager people would wish it to be. :P On a side note, Tal Celes also has a pretty decent role in this story. If you read some Voyager Fan Fiction, you will probably know her because she is very often featured as a supporting character. But when I was checking out her bio, I discovered that she has actually only been seen in two, count them, two, episodes. My point here is I find it interesting how some characters can just stick with you and appeal to so many; not just Tal, but also the Delaney sisters or Ro Laren. (Ro is not in this story, just using her as an example for this side note.) She was also in only a few episodes of TNG yet everyone pretty much knows her. But on the other hand, characters like Tuvok and Neelix are often nothing more than just mentioned because they are part of the main cast and therefore basically have to be mentioned. Strange.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To mhw.weckseler[at]gmail.com

Twenty-five to Life
By H.W.

 

Chapter 2

Curiosity had gotten the better of B'Elanna, and the first thing she did after leaving Kathryn's ready room was to beam over to The Glory to go and check out her quarters. She had just rounded a corner from the main corridor into the corridor that held her quarters when she saw Tom stepping out of a set of quarters.

"Hey, your quarters?" B'Elanna asked. A quick look at the quarters numbering told her that hers had to be four sets of quarters down the corridor.

"Hi. Yeah. Um, B'Elanna, we really need to talk."

"Sure, I was just going to check out my quarters, want to come along?"

"No, I'm going back to Voyager to see if I still have stuff there. But, um, listen, that thing we had going?"

"Yeah?" B'Elanna asked, knowing only too well what he meant.

"I'm sorry to say this, but, um, time has come to end it, at least for now. Hopefully forever." Tom took a deep breath before adding, "You see, I just met my wife, my pregnant wife and..."

Tom's words were broken off by a right hook that had enough force behind it to make him stumble back and then fall backwards because of lack of balance.

"Hey, what the hell did you do that for?!" He asked outraged from the floor, holding his jaw.

"Sorry," B'Elanna apologized with a cringe. "It must be some Klingon genes reaction from a Klingon woman hearing a guy tell her that they have to stop their relationship because his wife is pregnant."

Seeing the grin, Tom grinned as well. One of the reasons why he and B'Elanna had been able to get along so well was because he had always accepted her for what she was, including being somewhat volatile at times. Her apology was enough for him, considering that nothing had been broken, and he knew that she could hit a lot harder if she truly wanted to. As B'Elanna helped him to his feet again, he couldn't help but point out. "We didn't have a relationship, like that, but yeah, must be weird to hear the guy you slept with tell you that his wife is pregnant. Believe me, that was one hell of a surprise for me as well."

B'Elanna leaned against the wall before asking, "You said that the sex between us is over and that you hope forever. So you really want to stay married to a woman you don't know? You were the one shouting the loudest about it at the meeting."

"I know," Tom agreed as he leaned against the wall as well. "But that was before I met this woman in whose eyes I could see love for me and that is carrying my baby. Love, can you believe that? I looked in her eyes and I saw love and longing, for me. A woman that doesn't care about the fact that I have a name as a womanizer; she loves me, no conditions. I can't afford not to try. I'm not like Kathryn that I already know that I want to stay married for sure, but I'll try. I'll use these twenty-five days to try and see how I feel about my wife and I hope that it works out. Kathryn was right about one thing. Even though I don't remember her, I feel comfortable around her. We were discussing a few things. Before I knew what I was doing, I was holding her in my arms while she told me about some of our time together. I owe it to her and to myself, to try. And I will."

He looked to his side at B'Elanna's profile. "What about you? Kathryn said that with the exception of Tuvok and the Doctor, the relationship status of everyone on the senior staff had changed. Are you also in a relationship with an Urdian?"

He grinned before adding, "You might like it. My wife told me that when we met, we had to train a bit to get me to last as long as an Urdian man normally does."

"Really?" B'Elanna asked. Then she admitted with a grin, "I have to say that you were pretty decent about lasting They last longer?"

"They do, but my wife told me that now I last as well. She assured me that we had a lot of fun while training me."

B'Elanna chuckled. "It sounds that she and you might just get along fine. She seems to have the same sense of humor as you."

"She does," Tom agreed. "So, how about you? Married to some Urdian guy?"

Now B'Elanna scowled. "Yeah, I'm married. But not to a guy."

"You married a woman?" Tom asked surprised. "You should have told me that you like that as well. We could have had some fun on the holodeck."

"Why didn't you ever suggest that we go to the holodeck and had some fun with a holographic guy?" B'Elanna countered. "You, me, and a nice hologram. I could have handled you both."

Seeing him cringe she grinned. "So why do you think that I would be interested in being with three people if the third person is a woman, but I wouldn't be interested if the third person is a guy as well?"

"Um, can we pretend that I didn't say that?"

"We can, but to answer your question anyway. I don't mind the gender; both are fun. But, I don't share. Why do you think I demanded that if there ever was someone else, the fun between us would stop?"

Tom nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I see your point. Truth be known, and just between you and me, in relationships I don't like to share either. Mind you, I've done the two women thing. Three once actually, but that was just some fun in a pleasure resort on Risa. In a real relationship, I don't think I could share, especially if that person isn't also part of the relationship. Feelings are not that easy. I think I would get damn jealous damn fast, if for nothing more than the fact that I only got a kiss that night while my partner goes and has sex with someone else."

"Says the guy that was just talking about going to the holodeck," B'Elanna reminded.

Tom waved her off. "That doesn't count. That's the holodeck; not real. That's the same as using a sex toy. I'm not about to get jealous of a dildo because it's always erect, am I? So why would I be jealous of a non-sentient hologram?"

"Because it's still not you participating," B'Elanna pointed out. "With a dildo it's still you holding it, or at least watching."

"Unless I'm not there," Tom countered.

"Well," B'Elanna started, but then decided that it really didn't matter. These were only theoretical details they didn't really need to talk about since it wasn't in their, now friends only, relationship.

"Either way, so, who are you married to, an Urdian or someone from Voyager?" Tom asked when B'Elanna didn't continue.

"I'm married to Seven," B'Elanna finally admitted.

"What?" Tom asked amazed. "And you didn't ask Janeway for a direct divorce?"

B'Elanna snorted. "Believe me, I did. But it seems that I was so stupid that I got married in an Urdian ceremony, so I'm stuck to the twenty-five days timeframe as well."

"Sorry," Tom said sincere. "So, are you going to try? Are you going to treat her as your wife and see how things go?"

Her only answer was a glare.

"Hey, it's a valid question," Tom defended. "Before I walked into those quarters I was fully planning to tell my wife that we couldn't be. I had this nice little speech all planned. I walked in, started by saying, listen, and somehow I walked out just now hoping with my entire being that we will get along and stay married."

"Yeah, but it's different for me," B'Elanna pointed out. "You found someone on the planet and feelings formed. You simply have to find those feelings again. But I know Seven. I have interacted with her for two years before we even reached this damn planet. I know that I don't like her and want nothing to do with her."

"So, what's the plan?"

"The plan?" B'Elanna repeated. "The plan is to get through this month and having to interact with her as little as possible. I can't divorce Seven now, so the only option I have left is to ignore her until I finally can divorce her."

"Sorry, I really wished that you had just as much luck as I," Tom said in a consoling tone. Then he smiled and continued. "I got to tell you, right now I feel like I won a lottery. I can't wait to be back in there with her again. Hey, in fact, my stuff on Voyager won't go anywhere. Why don't you come with me and meet her?"

"How about tomorrow?" B'Elanna suggested. "I want to see where I live now and after that I have other stuff to do. Tomorrow is early enough to meet people. I really do want to meet her just that I want to meet her when I have time to get to know her."

"Alright," Tom agreed. "Um, just so that you know, you don't have to worry about accidentally saying something about what we had, she knows. It seems that I don't have any secrets from her. She told me that she doesn't mind because she knows that the thing between us stopped even before I met her. But she does want to get to know you."

"Tomorrow?" B'Elanna offered again.

"Tomorrow," Tom agreed.

"Well, see you around. I want to snoop around in my new quarters. Later."

"Later."

B'Elanna walked down the corridor and then into the living room of her new quarters. Her jaw dropped. She was amazed. The living room was bigger than her entire quarters on Voyager. Well, she admitted, probably not really, but it sure looked like it. There was a couch long enough for her to lie on comfortably, she was sure. Then there was a coffee table with a smaller two-seat couch on the other side. Though this combination would also fit in the living room of her old quarters, it would have prevented more furniture in the room. Not here. Here there was also a desk to one side attached to the wall. Despite that, there was still a comfortable room between the furniture. Enough so that she would be able to get away with placing a few cabinets against the walls, if needed.

She frowned when she noticed that there were two seats at the desk. The desk was designed so that a person could sit on either side and face each other. In the middle, there was a fifteen centimeter high rack that held some PADDs at both sides. She walked over to the desk and smiled when she could clearly recognize her side. Despite the rack there were PADDs scattered across the desk, even the occasional stylus or two. Yeah, that was her side alright. It was something she rarely had seen anyone else do, but B'Elanna actually preferred to use the data stylus to input data into PADDs. The main reason being that she often had a second program running that allowed her to doodle a little while thinking, then switch back to her work with a mere tap with the stylus.

She looked at the other side of the desk. At first, it looked unused, but then she cursed when she realized that if it were unused, those PADDs would not be in the rack on that side. Other things were on the desk as well, just that they were placed so neatly that B'Elanna hadn't even noticed them. She knew only a few people that would, and actually physically could, place things so exactly precise. She was sure that if she were to measure, every damn item on that part of the desk would lie exactly straight, down to the millimeter. "Damn, I can't believe that they really put her in here with me."

She turned away to look at the rest of the room. She saw several doors and decided to explore. She was surprised to find a smaller room that was clearly a kitchen setting. There was a replicator but beside it, there was a small work area for food preparation. There was also a table with four chairs.

B'Elanna never expected to find such spacious and luxurious quarters that even had a nicely styled kitchen. Since room was always a premium on a starship, kitchen areas were normally left out completely in ship designs ever since replicators were invented. People could just as well eat in the living room. Then she smacked herself against the forehead. She was not on a Federation starship. Until she read up on it, she would have no idea just how the Urdians did things on their ships.

She looked around the small kitchen and decided that she liked it. She noticed small trinkets and had to laugh when the small figures on the table registered. A small gold colored jar had 'honey' written across the side. Placed neatly around it were four little bears with their paws on the jar. It looked as if they were involved in an eternal battle to pull the jar in their direction, therefore preventing it from moving at all.

"Kahless, when did I develop such a wicked sense of humor?" She wondered outload, knowing for sure that this had to be something she had gotten. After all, there was no way that the cold Ice Princess would see the humor of it. She would only call it irrelevant.

"I wonder if the Urdians decorated this or if I brought my stuff over myself before I went back to Voyager to be 'reminded." She picked up one of the little bears and noticed that the paws dropped a little. They stayed up high enough so that the bear's paws could be easily put back on the jar. The small movement apparently set a mechanism in motion because suddenly some holes opened in the head of the bear, revealing it was actually a spice holder.

B'Elanna turned the bear over and sprinkled some of the spices onto her hand to see what it was. She noticed the bear only gave a small amount of the spice inside before stopping so abruptly it was clear some mechanism stopped the flow after a measured amount. She flipped the bear right side up and then upside down again, getting once more the same exact amount. She wondered. She did the same a third time. This time she held her hand in such a way that the paws would be kept in the down position. She noticed the holes stayed open allowing her to use the bear just like an old-fashioned saltshaker. B'Elanna grinned. "Kahless, I love these things."

She looked at the spices in her hand and recognized them very well. "Klingon rock salt." She grinned again. That was perfect. She had never liked Klingon spices in general, but the rock salt was the clear exception. She had always liked the rock salt. It was a wonderful spice. It complemented almost every food and could make even the worst food taste decently if you used enough. If the food was good, then the smallest dose of rock salt would enhance the flavors exactly in the right way to please the Klingon taste buds she had. She licked the salt, noticing the little bear had a name written across the bottom. 'Take.'

"Strange name."

B'Elanna placed the little bear back and decided which one to pick up next to see what spices and what name it would hold.

Everybody that knew B'Elanna knew that she was a mix between two species. Her head ridges alone were a clear advertisement of that fact. But what hardly anyone knew or realized was that mix affected her entire body. Her heart was in the same spot as a Human's, but was the massive eight-chambered heart of a Klingon. Her teeth looked like those of a Human, but had the sharp edges that Klingons had. All in all B'Elanna liked or at least didn't mind the mix. But one thing nobody realized, and only a few people knew, was the fact that her tongue was a true mix between Human and Klingon. She had taste buds from both species. As a result, Human foods never tasted to her like others said it should taste. Even Klingon foods tasted off to her. Often they were too strong for her liking.

B'Elanna was surprised to find that the other three spices were ones she liked as well. It was clear these spices were for her. The names of the bears sent a message all by themselves. The first bear had been called 'Take', then 'Give', followed by 'Compromise', which had been split into two parts to fit on the bottom. The last bear had been called 'Love'. Slowly she took the bears off the jar again and then turned the jar over, by now sure that something had to be written on the bottom of the jar as well.

'With you, I will have to give and take for the rest of my life, but I will always be glad to compromise for you. I love you, my wife.'

B'Elanna quickly put the jar back and wiped away the tears that formed. Klingons did not cry; especially not because of some stupid words from some stupid Borg Ice bitch. What made it even worse was that she somehow knew for sure those were Seven's words. She didn't need this. She knew the only thing that could have been between her and Seven must have been some mutual interest they had build on for them to marry. Wasn't that what the Doctor had said? People found people with the same interest, they started to talk, and things went from there? Yeah, that was the explanation. After all, weren't most of their fights based on the same interest and therefore clashed because the other was doing it wrong?

She didn't need this situation. She didn't need some kind of fake relationship, only to find after half a year or so they had nothing in common other than one or two subjects that they had already talked to death. She quickly turned around and left the kitchen.

The second and last door, turned out to reveal a small corridor with three other doors. There were two doors to the left side, where they fell in line with the kitchen unit, and one at the end. B'Elanna was sure this room fell in line with the rest of the quarters also. It was just the corridor stopped there so that the width of the corridor could be added to the room. B'Elanna smiled at that. "It is good to see Urdians also have to abide to some laws of shipbuilding."

Despite the rather large size of the quarters, it was now clear to B'Elanna that it was actually a prefab-block., More than likely the other quarters on the deck looked exactly the same, save personal decorations of course.

The first door revealed a surprisingly large bathroom that B'Elanna loved right away. Beside the expected toilet and shower, there was also a bathtub large enough for two people to fit in it. There was a vanity cabinet with two sinks and mirrors above it. She quickly inspected the drawers, finding the expected things like hairbrushes and deodorants. Then she frowned. Here too was a clear difference. The drawers under the left sink looked unorganized. The stuff appeared to be thrown in haphazardly. It was there she had found the deodorant. It was not the Starfleet standard she normally used. She took it and opened up the cap to smell it. "Nice. I hope these replicators have this pattern on file."

She moved to the other side. Again, things looked organized to the extreme. With a snort, she noticed this side was lacking any deodorant. "Let me guess, Borg don't sweat."

No, that wasn't true. She had seen perspiration on Seven's forehead several times when she had been on away missions with the blonde. Seven did sweat, just not under normal conditions. "Alright, let me rephrase that. 'I do not smell. My perspiration is of neutral odor'."

She opened the last drawer and was just about to close it again when she saw a small bottle. She frowned and picked it up. It was of clear glass, with an amber colored liquid inside. From the decoration and style, she guessed it was a perfume bottle.

"Now, what does a Borg drone need perfume for?" With a mental shrug, she opened the bottle and sniffed the contents. She gasped when the intoxicatingly sweet smell made a thunderbolt of raw lust travel straight to her groin. She quickly closed the bottle, then the drawer, and stepped back. She noticed she was panting and took a few calming breaths. She could still smell the perfume in the air, but now she smelled the perfume as it was supposed to be smelled, instead of smelling it pure from the source, the impact was a lot less.

"Wow. I could come just from smelling that alone."

She frowned when she started to guess the reason for the fragrance. "No. No, that is so not happening." She realized it wasn't necessarily the perfume. The perfume smelled great, but that wasn't it. It was more basic than that. She understood the subconscious part of her mind and her body, still knew all that had happened in the last months. Both were making the connection. The perfume meant something.

"What does a Borg drone need perfume for? Because she knows the smell of it will make the person she lives with go insane."

Then she wondered. Was that the reason why Seven had been able to get B'Elanna to marry her? Because she had known the perfume would get B'Elanna horny. If you get a Klingon horny enough, then she will do pretty much anything you ask in the hopes of getting laid. Well, a Klingon/Human hybrid anyway.

Now she knew why the smell had affected her so much. Her body knew the smell. If it smelled that perfume, it meant sex was coming next.

She closed her eyes and a scene flashed to her mind. She knew it couldn't be a memory because those memories of the last months were now gone, impossible to retrieve. No, it wasn't a memory, but a fantasy probably triggered by the lingering smell of the perfume in the air.

While a part of her mind was trying to explain it, the other part kept enjoying the image of nuzzling Seven's neck like her life depended on it. Slowly she could see herself go higher until she reached the starburst implant right below the blonde's ear. She could see herself flick the tip of her tongue over it right before she...

She gasped again as she forced her eyes open. She couldn't think like that about that Borg. A Borg drone couldn't make her so hot that she was seriously contemplating taking a cold shower. Ah, shower. Yes. She looked at the shower to try to get her mind on other things. She decided she liked the setup. There was no door, only an area about five centimeters lower than the rest. It was connected with the rest of the floor by a gentle slope. She could see the reason why when she noticed there were controls for both a sonic and a hydro setting. "I can't believe it, a real water shower. Boy I can't wait to stand under that after a long day of work."

With some reluctance, she finally left the bathroom and headed to the next door in the corridor. As the door opened, it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment after finding that treasure called a bathroom. This was merely a walk-in closet with doors covering, she assumed, shelves on either side and the end.

"Well, compared to the limited room I had on Voyager, this is a treasure as well, I guess. There must be twenty times as much room in here."

The walk-in closet was wide enough that besides the cabinets to the sides, there was a little bench in the middle to sit on, which also had compartments worked into it.

She opened the first door on her left and saw things clearly belonging to her. Her socks and underwear was neatly stacked. There was a lot more of it than there was before, she noted. She was slightly surprised to see the stacks though, both the socks and her underwear. She had always figured there was no need to fold them because people didn't see them when she wore them. Even if, both where clothing that fit snugly to the body and therefore you would never see if the panties had been neatly folded before or just thrown in a drawer. She smirked. "Besides, Tom is the only one that would see me in my panties. He sure didn't care what they looked like as long as I would take them off."

She looked at some of the things she couldn't remember owning and saw a clear difference. Where her old underwear was a mix between boringly practical and still somewhat nice looking, the new stuff was an either/or variety. Some panties and bras looked painfully boring but were sure to fit very comfortably. "Hey, I now own sports bras. Hmm."

Then she drifted to the other underwear. Her jaw dropped once again when she saw that she now owned lacy underwear in tempting colors and cuts. Some of them had so little fabric to them that she wondered if they could even function as underwear you wore for more than a few minutes until a lover took them off. "I own thongs and g-strings?"

She picked up one of the lacy bras and held it against her body. "Oh boy, when did I turn into wanting to wear the hot stuff? If Tom saw me in this, he would have a heart attack."

She noticed there was a clear order to the underwear drawer. Her old underwear was more to the back while the new stuff was in front and divided left and right.

"So either I wear the boring but comfy stuff now or I strut around like some underpaid pinup."

Before beaming over to The Glory, she had used one of the bathrooms on Voyager so she knew she was wearing some of her old underwear. Shrugging, she decided that if she owned it, she might as well try it. She stripped and put her worn underwear in the hamper standing beside the door. It was only after she had done so that she realized she hadn't even thought about it. It was clear her subconscious mind was used to putting worn clothing in that hamper, even if she was now standing in new quarters.

Since she had never worn sports bras before, though she had been tempted enough several times to look up the pros and cons, she decided to give them a go. "Boy, talk about boring."

The comment was for both the bra, but also a self-criticism. Wasn't that the story of her life? Once she knew something or it was habit, she simply stuck with it instead of trying other things. She had started with wearing regular bras and always stuck to it. It was what she was used to. She was glad to see the sports bras were of the encapsulating kind that would give her even more comfort, she knew from the research she done on it once. Besides, she didn't really feel like having her breasts pushed flat by the compression kind.

Once she had the bra and panties that went with it, on, she sighed. "See, you stupid ass moron? All it took was a try and you never did it. No, I'm comfortable enough with what I have. Yeah. But comfortable enough and comfortable is a world of difference, isn't it? This feels nice."

That made her wonder. The other stuff, the sexy sets looked like the couldn't really be comfortable. But was that also the case?

She picked up the lacy bra she had held up moment ago but this time she put it on. The difference in feeling was mediate. The straps were all set right to her body, not surprising since it was her underwear. They felt pretty comfortable. But still, her breasts felt... different. As if they were being pushed and lifted in all kind of weird ways. Confused she turned to the body-length mirror she has seen on the wall besides the door and looked... and just kept looking. She swallowed in disbelief and turned left and right a bit to see from all angles. How the hell could the cut of a bra make such a difference? B'Elanna had always liked her C-cup breasts. Sure she liked to see big breasts on other women, like Seven, she had to admit. But for herself, her size suited her just fine. And yet, now somehow her breasts looked like they could give Seven's a run for their money in size.

She reached for her uniform shirt and put it on. Yep, as suspected it enhanced the affect. With the fabric stretching over the now more lifted and pushed out breasts, it looked like her C-cup hand magically swelled to an ample D-cup. Interesting. Still, she had to admit that the weird pushing was irritating her a bit. Not too much, but still. She could see herself wearing the bra for a day if needed, but yes, much more designed to be worn for a bit to drive a partner wild. To be worn for a few hours underclothing so that it would be a nice surprise when the clothing was taken off. But definitely not first choice to wear to work all day.

She stripped out of her uniform top once more and was just about to take off the bra as she glanced at the mirror once more. She had to admit; sexy as hell. It made her wonder. She switched her comfy panties for the ones that went with the bra and once again she was amazed by the huge difference a bit of properly cut fabric could make. The sides of the panties were cut high is a clear effort to make legs seem longer. And it worked. Even without the benefit of wearing shoes with high heels, her legs suddenly looked a lot longer. A lot sexier. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the mirror. She smirked, 'Ass is hanging out though'. But even as she smiled, she had to admit that the way some of her behind was showing with the lace of the panties covering the rest, only added to the sexy affect. 'Damn, I look hot. Can you believe that? Me, looking hot enough that I could pass for an underwear model?'

Then she sighed. 'Still not something to wear all day though. I think in Engineering with me having to bend over that much, that lace would be riding up my ass in a very uncomfortable way real damn soon.'

She found that she was someone reluctant to take the black set of underwear off. She put it with her old underwear and put the new 'boring but comfy' underwear on. 'Yep, feels so much better'. She decided to leave the fresh underwear on and put her old uniform over it. As she closed the door, she once again noticed how neat the underwear was folded and stacked. She realized she would never be able to do that simply because she didn't have the patience to fold her underwear that precise.

"Please don't tell me that I have the Borg handle my underwear." She knew from the fit, these were indeed her underwear, but there was no way she would have bothered to fold it all like that.

The next door revealed her uniforms hanging painfully straight in one line. The trousers the same distance from the floor, exactly. That too was different. Normally the only uniform she had hanging in her closet was the dress uniform. The rest were normally all folded and put on shelves.

"Great, the Borg now handles all my laundry."

Besides the uniforms hung normal clothes, some of which she recognized as off duty clothing she had for years. Others looked new and...intriguing.

Getting slightly bored with looking at her own clothing, she quickly moved to the end of the room. There the door opening revealed transparent boxes with some of the things she collected over the years. Not in the mood to see if there was something new to be found, she closed the door and bent to open some of the drawers under the bench. She had to laugh when she found some of her precious tools. They were in total disarray.

"Good to see there are some things I don't let the Borg touch."

Curious she opened a drawer on the other side and despite not wanting too, she laughed again. More tools, but these were once again organized to perfection and aligned perfectly straight.

"And, so it seems, there are a few things that I'm not allowed to touch either."

She wondered if she should open some of the doors on Seven's side of the walk-in closet to see what kind of clothing was there. She didn't want to snoop around in things that didn't belong to her but then she figured, "If the woman folds my underwear, I can look at her clothing."

The first door didn't reveal the underwear B'Elanna was expecting, but nine bio-suits of different colors and different cuts. She frowned at that. Her side had been a logic arrangement of getting dressed. Socks and underwear, then the uniforms she would probably wear while on duty and then the clothing she would likely wear off duty when relaxing. If Seven had arranged B'Elanna's clothing with such logic than why have her bio-suits first at her own side? Then she groaned when a probable reason came to mind. She softly knocked her head against the doorframe several times.

"I sooo don't need to know that she is nude under those bio-suits."

She closed the door and moved to the next one. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but she sure wasn't expecting the casual clothing that could compete with B'Elanna's in the 'those must be comfortable to wear' look. For a moment she wondered if maybe these were some of her own clothing as well, but the shirt she had taken out proved otherwise. The cut, and especially the seams at the sides in the chest area, proved the shirt allowed for a chest size quite bigger than B'Elanna's 32C.

"She wears this stuff?" B'Elanna wondered surprised as she looked at some of the clothing.

The shirts and pants all looked elegant with crisp cuts. It was the next door that held an even bigger surprise. There were several sweatpants. What caught her interest were at least thirty t-shirts in different colors and cuts. Some even had prints on them. She felt some of them. They all shared one characteristic; they were made of materials that stretch.

"Having big boobs does have its disadvantages, doesn't it, Blondie?"

B'Elanna smirked. Despite her humor, she could certainly understand why Seven would prefer t-shirts over shirts. With regular shirts, have the cut slightly wrong and the shirt would be uncomfortable, especially someone with Seven's bust size. With t-shirts, they stretch and would feel comfortable no matter what, as long as the size in general was not too small.

One of the prints on a t-shirt caught her eye. For a moment she was sure her brain just short-circuited. Written boldly across the chest in fat green letters proudly proclaimed: "No, these are not implants."

"Oh my god, one of us must really have a weird sense of humor," she laughed. At first B'Elanna thought, she must have given the t-shirt to Seven, but then she remembered the little bears in the kitchen.

"Maybe a sense of humor is not irrelevant to Borg drones after all."

She was about to close the door again when she noticed there was a small three drawer cabinet underneath the hanging t-shirts. She opened the first drawer and looked for a moment. Apparently Seven had underwear after all. They weren't the kind designed to be worn for a long time though. This stuff was designed to be taken off even more than B'Elanna's sexy underwear was. She picked up some black panties and noticed they actually had an open crotch. The bra lying beside it, was nothing but an excuse to wear lace over breasts. At best it would only push up the breasts some to give more cleavage. She saw what was lying under the black panties and bra and shook her head in disbelief.

"Hot damn, the woman has stockings and garter belts?"

Her mind put the picture together. She imagined the pale skinned -blonde in a black bra, panties, stockings, and a garter belt. The image of seeing the blonde in black lingerie was absolutely mind blowing. B'Elanna clamped a hand over her mouth when she heard a growl escape.

She shook her head and decided that maybe it was better not to look at what else the woman had in those drawers. Seven was a cold ice bitch and B'Elanna could not afford to think of her as damn hot instead.

She left the walk-in closet and went to the last door in the corridor. She had a pretty good feeling what she could expect, but still she decided to have a look.

"Yep, a bedroom alright...with one big ass king-size bed."

She noticed that the cover on the bed was painfully straight. She knew that it had to be Seven's doing.

"Alright, so the woman cleans my clothes... well, arranges them. Who knows who puts them through the replicator to clean them? She takes care of making the bed... so I guess that keeping the quarters clean and in order is her task."

Then she groaned again. "Unless it's my task to clean them, and she just keeps them in perfect order for the rest of the time."

She wondered what side of the bed was meant for her, and then decided that since she always slept to the left, even in a one-person bed, chances were the left side was hers. She looked around the room. There were three doors as well, all located on the far wall. They fell in line once more with the quarters.

"Thus acting as an extra sound buffer to the next quarters," Her engineering mind couldn't help but add. From the location of two of them, she guessed they were closets. She guessed the third door was a second toilet. Having enough of checking out closets, she moved to the nightstand on the left side of the bed, pulling open the drawer and looked.

"When did I get all these?"

She recognized her old vibrator. There were two more of different style designs; three dildos in different sizes. Two strap-on toys in different sizes were also in the drawer. She took one of the strap-on toys, looking at the bottom of the base.

"Oooh, I have the best toys. Sensor technology, so I can feel when..."

Suddenly she dropped the toy when she realized the part she held had been inside Seven when B'Elanna had used the toy.

"Or maybe she used it on me."

The image of Seven in black lingerie came back but it evolved. B'Elanna knew herself well enough to know that if tempted too far she would react. She imagined Seven teasing her with that lingerie getup... with an open crotch... and B'Elanna grabbing the toy and actually feeling herself slide in...

"No. No, no, no. I am not thinking that. Besides, it doesn't matter. I have always known she must have a killer body and I've thought about her before sexually. So what? The first time she talks, she pisses me off again anyway. Good sex is the result of a good relationship but a good relationship is not the result of good sex. Alright, so I wouldn't mind having sex with her, if it weren't for the other things. But I refuse to accept this situation simply because I might get some sex out of it."

She pushed the drawer close with a forceful shove, only to frown when she heard a soft clinking when the nightstand moved because of it.

Curious she opened the second drawer and saw completely different kinds of toys.

"Handcuffs?"

She picked up the handcuffs to look at them.

"Fur lined handcuffs."

She looked at them for a moment longer before realizing these weren't just mere toy cuffs. Yes, fur protection were placed over them but they lacked the release lever the sex toy handcuffs normally had in case the key was lost or the games became uncomfortable. No, these were real. B'Elanna as an Engineer recognized the metal's color very well, they were made from first grade duranium. A chill went down her spine when she noticed the links between the cuffs were reinforced with Vulcan filament, wound around them in a crisscross pattern. B'Elanna was lucky that she had inherited the full Klingon strength, but still. Even despite Klingon strength, she would never be able to break out of duranium handcuffs. So why make them even stronger yet?

"Because maybe I'm not the only one that wears them," She answered herself.

Seven with her Borg enhanced strength would be able to break the links between the cuffs if they were not strengthened. With these reinforcements, B'Elanna doubted that even the Borg could break the links.

"An equal playing field?" She wondered.

She continued to inspect the drawer and found cuffs for the feet with different lengths of chains that were also reinforced with the Vulcan filament.

"Damn, what the hell were we into?"

She found something else as well, silk ropes tied to leather wrist cuffs and ankle cuffs. Now she finally understood and knew why the chains were reinforced. The silk had no material to strengthen the two connections. The silk could be torn easily. It was all about self-restraint. It was up to the wearer to hold back. The metal chains were so that the wearer didn't have to worry and could simply let go fully. The silk ropes provided enough restraint that a Human use quite some effort to break the holds. A Klingon and a former Borg drone, however, would break through the hold and not even notice if they weren't focusing on not breaking them.

As she looked further, she found other toys. These were 'innocent' toys like nipple clamps. She tried one of them on her pinky, feeling only the lightest of squeezes. She tried one of another pair. These had a nice, firm pinch to them. She also found stuff clearly meant to aid in soft, sweet lovemaking like the feathers.

"It seems we like the whole range from teasing to bondage. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one that can appreciate more than one way of having sex. I wonder... oh boy."

She looked at her latest find before finally taking out the leather Cat o'Nine tails. She hit her leg experimentally with the whip.

"Hmm, not much too it with clothing on."

Curious, she pulled up her right pant leg and hit her leg again.

"Ow, damn it, that stings."

She puckered her lips in thought before hitting her leg again. Now that she knew what to expect, it wasn't actually bad. She hit her leg three more times, each time a little harder. The sting was there, warmth spread from where she hit herself, but she couldn't say it was an unpleasant feeling. She smiled.

"Yeah, I can see the fun in that."

She imagined the nine-tailed whip being used on other parts of her body and licked her lips without even realizing it.

"Oh yeah, I can see why I keep this baby around."

She looked down at the red lines on her leg and smirked. Now she didn't even feel the warmth anymore, let alone the pleasant sting of pain from the whip. She was sure it would take at least half an hour or so for the red marks to fade away. Her mind flashed again. Now she saw Seven, chained to the bed face down, and red whipping marks all over her body. The blonde was begging and pleading for more. 'I love how they stand out on your white skin.'

"Great, now I can even hear myself talk in my imagination." She put the Cat o'Nine tails back, but the image of Seven made her wonder. Why have lengths of chain when all you could do was use them just like the handcuffs. Hmm. In the image in her mind, those chains had disappeared off the side of the bed. She looked under the bed. A very cleverly hidden duranium frame was attached to the underside of it. There were loops and hooks all around.

"Now how did that make it into my imagination? I don't have any memories left that could have told me about it."

B'Elanna saw the loops were big enough for the chains in the drawer could easily pass through them. It would only take seconds, she realized, to pull one of the chains through a loop and then fasten it securely onto the hook beside it. This would then secure the chain because gravity would pull the chain down the hook and prevent it from coming loose again until lifted over the hook once more by a willing partner. She wondered who of them had come up with that the idea. Either way, B'Elanna did recognize her own handiwork, even if she didn't remember making it. There had to be over thirty loops and hooks divided all around the bed which would make it possible to secure someone in all directions. Hands up, legs apart, hands to the side, legs closed. The possibilities were endless.

"Well, I may no longer have a memory of making that or even using it, but my subconscious mind would still know it's there if we ever used it. I guess that explains why it was in my imagination."

As she got up from the floor, she realized if she recognized her own handiwork, then this couldn't be a new bed. However, it also wasn't the bed she had on Voyager, that was for sure. It could only mean she and Seven must have gone out and very deliberately gotten a big bed while living on the planet. Her eyes drifted back to the nightstand. She couldn't believe that she owned so many toys now. She had always liked toys and normally always had one or two but still most of the time she preferred au naturel lovemaking. Either she and Seven were generally incompatible and needed a lot of toys just to find some common ground in their sex life. Or she and Seven had sex so often that all the toys were used but still most of the time sex between them was body to body only.

"Well, that's not really a fair comparison to make. I have been with women but never in a relationship with one. My one night stands were always fingers and tongue only because that's what we had at that time." She thought about it for a moment, imagining that the relationship she had with Tom had been with a woman instead. She had to admit that she couldn't really make a clear choice. If she would be asked 'toy, yes or no', there was no clear winner. It all came down to the situation. Mood, opportunity, spur of the moment or planned. So many factors that would make the choice go either way. "If I would have had toys around on those one nights stands, I might have just used them."

B'Elanna had always liked the feeling of being filled, so it made sense that there would be toys to give that to her, if she had a considerate partner at least. That would explain the dildos and vibrators besides the strap-ons. Since the strap-ons had technology that made it possible to feel the joy of entering your partner, one would be forgiven for assuming that only those would be used if a partner wanted to be filled. After all, why wouldn't both partners enjoy at the same time? But as much fun as those toys had to be, they also limited to certain positions. But a dildo or vibrator... now that could be used to fill and at the same time the person wielding the toy could lie between her partner's legs and lick and...

She took a last look at the nightstand and smirked. "I didn't see any lube though; I guess we didn't need that."

She moved to the other side and knelt in front of the nightstand that had to be Seven's. She opened the first draw, not really knowing what to expect.

"PADDs what else," She snorted. But then she wondered. Just how much sleep did former Borg drones need anyway? "Maybe she only sleeps an hour a night, maybe not at all."

B'Elanna very deliberately ignored the fact that if this was true, it sure said something that despite not needing sleep, the blonde still preferred to spend the night in the same bed as B'Elanna, instead of going to the living room and sitting at the desk. She opened the second drawer and was surprised to see... garbage. Well, she guessed it wasn't really garbage, but B'Elanna sure couldn't see the value of things like a rock or the broken off handle of what she guessed had once been some spanner. There had to be over twenty of those useless objects in the drawer. Confused B'Elanna closed the drawer again and decided that she had done enough exploring and moved back to the living room.

As she walked back she realized that even though their stuff was in the quarters, there was surprisingly little to find that gave the quarters a clear familiarity. In fact, the only real personal touch that was out in the open to see were those bears in the kitchen and those PADDs on the desk.

"Maybe we decided to leave the rest of the decorating for us to do now so that we can give it our personal touch now, instead of the personal touch that we would have given it after our mind being formed on the planet."

Once she was back in the living room, she looked around once more and saw something she missed before. She walked over and took a closer look at the four pictures hanging on the wall. There, in the crisp real-life clarity of a holo-recording, was the clear proof that she really had been so insane and married the Borg.

Seven looked absolutely stunning in a brilliant white wedding dress that reminded B'Elanna of a wedding of a friend she had once been to back on Earth. A 'traditional wedding dress' her friend had called it. In the picture, B'Elanna herself was wearing a crimson red Klingon wedding dress with the standard diamond shape cutout that showed off the valley between her breasts.

"I can't believe I agreed to wear that."

The more she looked at the pictures, the more she realized the dress was not simply because of her Klingon heritage. From other things in the background, she could see the wedding had been organized down to the smallest detail.

"Now why doesn't that surprise me, Miss Borg? So, why do you go white while I don't?"

She looked at Seven's dress more closely. "Hmm, old-fashioned Earth. Back then, white had a meaning on Earth, and red is the Klingon color of commitment. On Earth white was... pure? Untouched?"

She tilted her head as she looked at the picture that caught her and Seven in an eternal kiss... apparently a very heated kiss.

"Oh, no, we know what we are doing there. I don't think that white means we waited until our wedding before we did more than just kiss."

With a chuckle she added, "Besides, I don't think Seven would have agreed to that, even if I would have suggested it... which I know I would never have. No, Miss Cold Logic would have basically demanded that we had sex before our wedding so we could see if we were sexually compatible. So, why white?"

Then realization set in. "I was her first," she said in nothing but a whisper. "We may not have waited until the wedding, but she had all the right to wear white because she was getting married to the person that she gave herself to. The person she offered the gift of her virginity."

Her mind went back to the toys. "All of that stuff, I was the first that she experienced it all with. I was the first that went down on her, the first that was inside her, the first she trusted so much that she allowed the use of chains that even she can't break."

B'Elanna slowly backed up until she hit the back of the two-seater couch. She sat down on the backrest while she kept looking at the pictures. A second picture showed Seven lifting B'Elanna up so she could reach a present hovering just out of reach unless one person lifted the other. The package was wrapped in bright yellow paper and B'Elanna's fingers were just reaching it. B'Elanna knew the present, which probably been placed in its awkward location by an anti-gravity field, was not the important part. The important part was she and Seven were working together and both were clearly enjoying every moment of it.

The third picture was totally different once again. At first, it looked as if B'Elanna was simply kneeling on both knees in front of the standing blonde. It took her a few seconds to realize that looks were deceiving. Yes, she was kneeling in front of Seven, but the blonde's wedding dress was pulled up slightly and B'Elanna had one of her hands so far under the blonde's dress that her hand must easily have been able to touch the blonde's center. B'Elanna knew this ceremony only too well, and she was certain that she had only been removing a blue garter belt.

"Yeah, right. You touched, you pig." But despite her words, B'Elanna grinned. She was sure though, since she knew herself well enough, that she would have brushed over Seven's center for the smallest of moments. Purely by accident, of course.

The fourth picture was a group picture. A quick count told her thirty people had been at their wedding. Only five were of the Voyager crew, and the rest she didn't know or at least didn't remember.

"And that's what it all boils down to, isn't it?"

Those feelings weren't really them. If it had been truly real then people, like Tom, Harry, Tuvok and Kathryn would have been there. Carey, her second in command of Engineering, honor would have demanded that she invite him as well. It was all fake; a wonderful vacation where they could do what they wanted and didn't think about a tomorrow.

She sighed and turned away from the pictures. Just in time to see the door open and Seven walk in.

They looked at each other for a moment. B'Elanna's first reaction was to tell Seven to get out, but she knew she would never get away with it. On a last hope she said, "I, um, just had a look around and there is no alcove in here. Maybe it is better if you, um, asked for a place where they can put up an alcove for you."

"I am not sure if I should be insulted about the fact that you so clearly want me gone or pleased by the fact that apparently you do realize I have a right to be here." Before B'Elanna could react, Seven added, "but to answer your concern. Apparently you did not 'look around' well enough. An alcove has been placed in our bedroom."

B'Elanna frowned. "You've been here already? Because I didn't see an alcove."

"I have been here for one point two minutes to check if my alcove was working and up to my needs."

Now B'Elanna was confused and she walked back to the bedroom, followed by Seven. "Where?" She merely asked.

As answer, Seven walked to one of the closet doors and opened it. There, in a room of two by two meters stood indeed an alcove waiting for the blonde. Seven stepped back to give B'Elanna a better view.

"Crap, I didn't look in there. I thought that it was just another closet." She tilted her head and looked at the alcove a little longer. It somehow seemed wrong to her. "You don't mind that? You go from regenerating in the cargo bay to regenerating in a closet."

"Placement is irrelevant. I am comatose while regenerating."

B'Elanna merely shook her head and left the bedroom again.

"What is your problem?" Seven asked.

"What is my problem?" B'Elanna repeated as she turned to look at the blonde that was following her. Somehow 'what is your problem' didn't sound like something Seven was likely to say. It was, however, something B'Elanna would say. She wondered if Seven had subconsciously taken over some of B'Elanna's ways of saying things because they were effective ways of wording her questions down to the point.

"Yes. Why do you object to where I regenerate while I find it irrelevant?"

"Well, I could say that I object to you regenerating in these quarters period."

"That is not what you were objecting about," Seven merely pointed out.

B'Elanna opened her mouth only to close it again. Some of the things she had seen came back to her mind. The sex toys had all been in one drawer for both of them to use. Seven took care of B'Elanna's clothing, while having clothing herself that was clearly only for B'Elanna to see her in it. The spices in the kitchen were for her to use but in jars Seven had given her. Clearly they had found a way to either share, give, or take, in a way that was acceptable to both of them. The names of the bears came back to mind. Give, Take, Compromise, L... She would be glad if Seven decided that she wanted to live somewhere else but B'Elanna realized if the blonde was staying in the quarters she should have the same rights as B'Elanna.

She sighed before explaining, "Here is the deal, Seven. I don't want you here." She lifted her hand to stop Seven from speaking. "But, for as long as these are your quarters as well, we should be equal in here. Your alcove... regenerating is like sleeping."

She lifted her hand again to stop the blonde once more. "I know it's not literally the same. But what I mean is that it is your... rest... in which your body builds up energy again. As such, you should do that in the bedroom and not in a closet. I would never have accepted it if someone suggested that I sleep in that closet while there is a bedroom right outside it. So you shouldn't be banished to a closet to regenerate either. Come with me."

Slightly confused, Seven followed B'Elanna back to the bedroom once more.

B'Elanna pointed to the far corner at the foot side of the bed. "There, that corner would do just fine. Your alcove would fit there and we can still open the door beside it."

"I am surprised that," Suddenly Seven stopped talking as she noticed something in the corner. "But I believe we had this discussion before and merely ran out of time to do something about the situation."

Before B'Elanna could ask, Seven pointed to a socket close to the floor.

"I don't know this formation," B'Elanna had to admit after she had studied the socket for a moment.

"Because you never installed a Borg alcove before. That is an energy connection point for an alcove."

"I see," B'Elanna said, feeling somehow a little deflated her huge sacrifice had turned out to be so anticlimactic.

"But I thank you for suggesting we move the alcove here. I realize this was not an easy suggestion to make for you."

B'Elanna felt herself smile at Seven's words.

"However, I do find that I am surprised at the ease of it," Seven continued. "I would have assumed you would try to get me out of these quarters in whatever way possible; suggesting we move the alcove does not fit my assumption."

The smile disappeared and B'Elanna sighed before sitting down on the bed. "Seven, I hate you, alright? I don't want you here. I don't want anything to do with you. I would love it if we could get divorced today. But I'm not stupid. I know in another time and place things could have gone different. Well, we had that 'another time and place.' I do know that things could be different between us. As such, I am willing to give a little in these quarters. This is my new home and this is your new home as well. I don't want to be married to you for the rest of my life but that doesn't mean I don't realize there are other options. Maybe I could learn to get along with you well enough to be roommates. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact this marriage is for life I would love to be married to you for a week or so just for the sex alone."

Seeing the shocked look on Seven's face, B'Elanna pointed to the nightstand. "I don't think it would have taken you long to find those."

Seven opened the top drawer and looked at the contents for a moment before looking back at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna couldn't believe it, she actually saw Seven blush.

"It seems we had a rather, active, sex life," the blonde finally noted.

B'Elanna nodded. "Yeah. As I said, if this wasn't for life, I would have loved to be married to you for a few days simply for the sex. That right there holds promises I would love to explore. Even though I don't like you, I would be able to deal with that for a few days while we screwed our brains out. But the sex is really just an eye-opener. Those and other things I have found while looking around, makes me understand there are other options than trying my best to make your life miserable."

Not really sure how to react to that, Seven decided to open the second drawer instead. After a moment of hesitation, she lifted one of the chains and looked at B'Elanna. Now it was B'Elanna that blushed. "There, um, are, loops and hooks under the bed to attach them to."

Seven looked at the chain for a moment. It was not too heavy and clearly of a high quality that made sure there were no sharp edges. Only a centimeter in thickness, they could be used easily and not hurt the mood because they looked and felt too thick. They were meant to be used but not to focus on. They were meant to restrain without making it look like you were trying to hold a shuttle in place. And yet... Experimentally she took hold of the chain with both hands and pulled as hard as she could. There were sounds of strain coming from the chain, which impressed B'Elanna to no end, but the links didn't break or deform.

"I cannot break these," Seven stated the obvious, before dropping the chain and picking up the whip. She looked back at B'Elanna and now the Klingon even looked away. "You would use this?"

"Yes," B'Elanna admitted hesitantly.

"And would you also allow the use of it?"

"Yes," B'Elanna admitted once more, as her eyes drifted back to Seven's. Her imagination had shown her a scene of using the Cat o'Nine Tails on Seven, but it was her own experimenting on her own body before, that had already made her decide she liked the idea.

"Good. I find the idea intriguing, up to a certain level."

"Yeah," B'Elanna agreed. "A nice sting, red marks... pleasure pain, not pain pain."

"This proves we clearly enjoyed having sex," Seven noted. "And you say that even now that you feel... dislike for me again, you would still not mind having sex with me?"

"No and yes," B'Elanna said, confusing herself just as much as Seven. "No, I wouldn't mind having sex with you if there was nothing else at play here. Yes, I would mind having sex with you because I do know there is more at play here. Even if you were to offer me right now a no holds romp on this bed, I would decline. I can't do that. I can't afford to do that. It would affect me. I would want more. I would know that simply staying married to you would be the best way to get more of it. Seven, I don't want that. If I do decide there can be more between us then I want it based on feelings and not on the one feeling of wanting to get laid."

"I can understand your reasoning," Seven agreed. " I thank you for keeping in mind there are more important things that should form your opinion. Still," Seven suddenly flipped the whip and hit the bed. "Pity. I would not have minded using this on you right now."

"Like... like that?" B'Elanna asked, trying to swallow despite her suddenly dry throat.

Seven's reaction was immediate. She said with a smile, "It seems my body still knows what you like and that we have used this before. That was the level of force you would prefer?"

"Rationally my mind says no, but my body..."

"Maybe it is the level I used once you were thoroughly excited and already accustomed by a nice buildup."

"Maybe," B'Elanna agreed. Then she frowned. "Pity? You said pity? Man you really started to take over things I say."

"I believe it depends on the situation," Seven partially agreed. "I believe that casual settings or in bed I might have used 'pity' quite often because it sounds more... warmer... than 'unfortunate'."

"If by warmer you mean hotter, then you're probably right," B'Elanna agreed. "Tell me," B'Elanna started, wanting to know, even though she didn't want to actually have sex with Seven at that point because of the reason she had just told the blonde. "You can see the use of these toys but, um, can you also see not using them? You know, as in not needing them because without is fun too?

"It is unfortunate that I cannot remember what we shared, so I cannot tell you what I like in reality. However, I can tell you I do remember my time on Voyager and the fantasies I had there. When I masturbated, my partner was always using her tongue and fingers. I never fantasized about toys. So, at least theoretically, I prefer not to use toys. My guess is that you were the one that suggested using toys and that I tried it and liked it as well."

"Hold up there Sparky," B'Elanna objected hotly, offended by the comment. Seven made it sound like it was only B'Elanna that had wanted more than the blonde had been able to offer with her body alone. "How about this scenario? One day you found my vibrator, and you, Miss Research, decided it had to be tried and liked it so much that it is actually you who made us get all these toys."

"That is an option as well," Seven agreed.

"That's it?" B'Elanna asked surprised. "You agree, just like that?"

Seven put the Cat o'Nine Tails back and closed the drawer. "If you want, I can argue the point for the next two hours, but I have a distinct feeling that all the arguing we ever did about sex toys was of the positive and pleasurable kind. You like the idea of these toys, so do I. Does it really matter who was the first to suggest using them? Do you really want one of our unpleasant arguments to be about sex toys? Or would you rather prefer we leave them out of the equation for now, so that we can argue about them in fun again, if we ever reach the stage where we use them once more."

B'Elanna opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it again when she realized that Seven was right. She opened her mouth again to tell Seven as much, but then closed it once more when she realized that she had just been played. "You are a stupid ass bitch. You know damn well that I don't want to go there, so by steering the argument in that direction you give me no room to defend myself. Teaches me for trying to be nice to you."

Without saying another word, B'Elanna stormed out of the bedroom and moments later, Seven could hear the exit door of the quarters opening and closing as well.

"That was unwise," Seven told herself. For a moment, she believed she finally found a way to neutralize B'Elanna's arguments, only to now have moved them to a point where the Klingon would probably not want to negotiate at all anymore.

"No, it was not unwise; it was plain stupid. I should have known better."

She looked back to the nightstand and the treasures inside it. She smiled despite the situation. She told the truth. In her fantasies toys had never been a part of the erotic scenes. However, it didn't mean she hadn't researched the concept once she overheard two lovers on Voyager talking about getting a new toy to play with. Once she started to research, she found more and more things she felt she might like to experience. She really liked the idea that apparently B'Elanna liked toys as well... all kinds of toys even. The chains and whip came back to mind but she knew the simple reason was that it was one of the extremes. It was something not every lover would agree to and she was really glad that apparently B'Elanna did agree to it, and even liked the idea. That didn't mean Seven, or B'Elanna, the blonde was sure, wouldn't also love to simply lie between their partner's legs and dine leisurely without any toy, or even fingers being involved.

She knew her attempt to manipulate B'Elanna backfired. Now was the time to either dig the trenches on that new line or do some serious damage control.

She moved back into the living room and made her preparations before finally taking one of the PADDs and the data crystal that held the recordings she had made for herself. She left the quarters to find a place to watch the files without being disturbed. B'Elanna had to come back and find the preparations without Seven being there for them to work.

Part 3

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